Live coverage: H-2A rocket delivers on 30th flight

A Delta 2 rocket has lifted off from California’s Central Coast on Saturday with a NASA environmental satellite designed to improve flood and drought forecasts, map moisture in Earth’s soils, and track the planet’s water cycle.

Crew Dragon commander Mike Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi flew to the Kennedy Space Center on a NASA-chartered private jet Sunday, ready for a final week of training, refresher courses, and some time off before their launch to the International Space Station.

A European-built communications satellite, manufactured in secret for the Egyptian government, joined a European Space Agency exoplanet observatory aboard a Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo plane for a trans-Atlantic flight Wednesday to begin final launch preparations in French Guiana.